Week 4- Fiction and Nonfiction

This week we will be enjoying the story Bear Snores On, as well as reading a nonfiction book about cats and dogs. With this week's theme, we jump into an important concept, distinguishing between fiction and nonfiction. Students will be learning about how works of fiction are stories that are made up and works of nonfiction teach us real information and facts. You can reinforce these concepts when reading with your child by having them identify what they are reading using these terms and having them explain how they know. These terms are very similar and are often switched or used inconsistently which makes it important that the students have many encounters with the terms and opportunities to use them appropriately in their conversations.

This week, we begin a phonemic awareness focus of rhyming. Kindergartners need to be able to identify rhyming words as well as generate their own examples. This link includes a couple of ideas you can use to reinforce this skill at home, if you are interested: http://www.4nannies.com/blog/10-fun-rhyming-games-to-play-with-kids/

The students are now working to incorporate all 3 Ways to Write (detailed pictures, letter/sound labels, and planned out sentences) to craft their writing pages. They are doing impressive jobs, especially with only 3 weeks of Kindergarten under their belts!

In math, we continue to work on the important skills of being able to determine, model, and label amounts. Our work on ordering numerals and amounts continues. We are also comparing amounts to determine which has more and which have less/fewer. This week will end our first math unit. In addition to the listed objectives for this week's homework, now is the perfect time to have your child revisit any objectives from IXL sections A and B as you see fit.

The students will meet another Tribble this week- No Put Downs. This Tribble helps us recognize how our words can upset and hurt others. It also helps us realize that our words can uplift others as well, which will lead into our final Tribble- Appreciations. The story The Crayon Box That Talked illustrates both impacts. (We also have several activities this week that will have us working with color words.) 

The students will have a 5 Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed take home game. This game serves double duty, when it is used to practice retelling the story AND to reinforce math concepts (both number orders are illustrated, as well as one to one correspondence when counting).

We will be beginning our Listen to Reading station this week. Please send in some over-the-head, inexpensive headphones that can stay here at school, as soon as you are able. Only a limited amount of children can visit this station per day, so if you need a bit of time to get your child's headphones- no worries. 

Reading: 
10 minutes each night. Reading can include reading stories, the poems in the binder, and working on alphabet sounds and letter names. I strongly recommend having your child sing and act the Zoo Phonics song with you. These animals serve as fun anchors to the all important letters and sounds that we use so much!

Math:
Remember, math should be done for 10 minutes. 
Monday- B.9 One less - up to 5
Tuesday -B.10 Count one less - up to 5
Wednesday- G.1 Are there enough?
Thursday- G.2 Fewer and more - compare by matching

Skills can be revisited and repeated to increase your child's automaticity. 

Optional math extension: Count small objects with your child. Have them move each object as it is counted. Have them count as high as they can. Some ideas for objects are cereal, pennies, tiny toys (Shopkins or Hot Wheels or LEGO pieces or whatever your child has a bunch of).

At times, your child may bring home a math sheet that appears to be "unfinished". This will be because the back sheet was an extension activity for students that finished the assigned task earlier than others. If your child is interested or if you desire, they may finish the sheet as part of their homework time. It is not required, but it is encouraged.

Week 3 - Open a Book

Our theme this week is Open a Book. We will be delving into the 3rd Way to Read- Retelling a story. This involves a reader sharing what they heard when the story was read to them and what they see in the pictures. Our read aloud will be Bears Don't Read. We will also be revisiting Froggy and Big Bear to practice our retelling skills.

We will continue to focus on and practice our skill of Attentive Listening.

The Kindergartners did a great job of writing their first sentences this week. We will continue to work on crafting pages that include detailed pictures, labels, and complete sentences. This week we will be writing about pets that we like.

We will continue our focus on letter sounds and names, as well as word awareness. When your child reads to you, please encourage them to point to each word as it is said.

In math, we continue our work with reading, writing, and counting amounts. We also begin to notice and practice descending number patterns (5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0) in addition to the ascending pattern (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) we may be more used to.

HOMEWORK  
When logging in to IXL, please make sure that you are using the updated login provided by Mr. Kelly- otherwise your child's work will not be reported to my teacher account.
  
If your child has not yet decorated their binder cover page, please have them do so, as this will be the topic of our Community Share on Monday.
 
Reading: 
10 minutes each night. Reading can include reading stories, the poems in the binder, and working on alphabet sounds and letter names. 

Math:
Remember, math should be done for 10 minutes. 
Monday- B.5 Show numbers on ten frames - up to 5
Tuesday - B.6 Represent numbers - up to 5
Wednesday- B.7 One more - up to 5
Thursday- B.8 Count one more - up to 5 

Skills can be revisited and repeated to increase your child's automaticity. 

Optional math extension: Count small objects with your child. Have them move each object as it is counted. Have them count as high as they can. Some ideas for objects are cereal, pennies, tiny toys (Shopkins or Hot Wheels or LEGO pieces or whatever your child has a bunch of).

At times, your child may bring home a math sheet that appears to be "unfinished". This will be because the back sheet was an extension activity for students that finished the assigned task earlier than others. If your child is interested or if you desire, they may finish the sheet as part of their homework time. It is not required, but it is encouraged.

Note from the Principal:
If your child is going to be absent from school please notify the front office by 9 a.m. 423-5437.  Please remember that if anyone comes to check your children out of school who is not on the emergency card, they will not be released to them. You can update that list by going to Infinite Campus Parent Portal.

Note from the Office:
Beginning Monday, Sept 18, 2017 we will have gate monitors at the walk up gate.  You will now be able to park in the big parking lot on the south side of the building (the Bealls, Big Five and Dollar Tree side) and walk up to get your child if you choose. In the morning, please instruct your child to go to the walk up line. Parents, please form a single file line outside the gate and wait for a gate monitor to bring you your child. 

If you choose to do this, please be ready to tell the gate monitor your child's name and teacher.  Hold your child's hand all the way back to your car.  

Thank you for your patience and dedication to the safety of our students.

Week 2- Sharing

Hello, Families!

Welcome to the second week of Kindergarten. If your child was tuckered out on Thursday- they are in the majority. Plenty of sleep will help us tackle all the great learning we have in store.

Our theme this week is Sharing. Our primary read aloud will be Share, Big Bear, Share- a delightful book that I discovered this summer on the shelves of the local library. It is about a bear who misunderstands what others are saying, but by the end he learns to pay attention to others and remembers to share with his friends.

Last week, we got to know our first Tribble- Mutual Respect. He helps us remember to treat others the way we want to be treated and to be kind. This week, we will meet the next Tribble- Attentive Listening. The tale of Howard B. Wigglebottom Learns to Listen will kick off our discussion of what it means to be an attentive listener.

One of our focuses at the beginning of the year is developing and firming up our Alphabet Knowledge. We have some groovy "animal friends" that help us learn the sounds and names of our letters. (Zoo Phonics) Each animal has a name and motion that help us solidify the sounds and letter names. After we've worked with them a bit, they will be added to your child's binder. Singing and acting out their song is a great "reading homework" activity.

Word awareness is another important skill we are working on developing. This skill is important to reading and writing. When your child is reading their poems and books, it is important that they are noticing that words have spaces between them. Encourage them to point to or "poke" at each word as they reread. When we write sentences we plan them out across our fingers.

In math, we are working on reading, writing, and counting out amounts.

Community Calendars will be filled out, starting this week. Our Kindergartners are busy learning a bunch of routines and expectations. Please keep in mind, that this is a process. I will contact you if any choices/behaviors are of a great concern- otherwise, we are using them as learning opportunities within the school setting.

I had a training this Friday about the MAPS testing that our students will be taking in the winter. One of the concerns about the standardized assessment for Kindergartners, is that many of them are not very experienced with using a computer mouse. This is the tool that they will be using when they take this test. To get the most accurate picture of their reading knowledge, it will help for them to have some experience using a mouse beforehand. We will do some center work at school using a mouse, however you may want to provide your child with additional mouse experience at home. Games that require "dragging and dropping" would be especially beneficial.

If you are looking for some extra reading material, I came across this great article about mindset: https://www.nwea.org/blog/2017/starting-school-year-off-mindset-lesson-three-year-old/  It's worth the quick read as it has a valuable message for us as parents. 

Picture Day is Monday. Forms came home in binders- however, you may also order online at the site: mylifetouch.com

HOMEWORK
When logging in to IXL, please make sure that you are using the updated login provided by Mr. Kelly- otherwise your child's work will not be reported to my teacher account.

Reading: 10 minutes each night. Reading can include reading stories, the poems in the binder, and working on alphabet sounds and letter names.

Math:
Remember, math should be done for 10 minutes.

Monday- B.1 Learn to count to 5
Tuesday - B.2 Count to 5
Wednesday- B.3 Count using stickers - up to 5
Thursday- B.4 Count on ten frames - up to 5

Skills can be revisited and repeated to increase your child's automaticity.

Optional math extension: Count small objects with your child. Have them move each object as it is counted. Have them count as high as they can. Some ideas for objects are cereal, pennies, tiny toys (Shopkins or Hot Wheels or LEGO pieces or whatever your child has a bunch of).

Please make sure your child got to decorate their binder cover page as well.

Week of 9/5 - Starting School

I hope you all enjoyed your long weekend! I enjoyed mine, but I'm definitely ready to see all my eager and ready to learn students tomorrow morning!

The beginning of Kindergarten is largely about learning new routines and school expectations, as well as becoming familiar with our room, teacher, and classmates.

This week, we will be reading about Froggy's First Day of School. Students will be learning about how to "read the pictures" of a book. This is a way for beginning readers to thoughtfully interact with a book even if the text is not yet accessible to them.  Thinking and talking about what we see characters "thinking, feeling, and doing" is a valuable way to begin to raise reading comprehension.

In math, we will explore different math manipulatives- tools that help us solidify understanding while having hands on fun.

HOMEWORK

Reading: Read with your child for 10 minutes each night. Enjoy discussing the story with your child. Take things slow and encourage your child to describe what they notice in the pictures and to share what they are thinking about the characters.

Math:
Log in to https://www.ixl.com/math/kindergarten
Remember, math should be done for 10 minutes.

Tuesday- A.1 Learn to count to 3
                A.2 Count to 3
Wednesday- A. 3 Count using stickers- up to three
                     A.4 Count on ten frames- up to three
Thurs- A.5 Show numbers on ten frames- up to three
           A. 6 Represent numbers- up to three 


Optional math extension: Count small objects with your child. Have them move each object as it is counted. Have them count as high as they can. Some ideas for objects are cereal, pennies, tiny toys (Shopkins or Hot Wheels or LEGO pieces or whatever your child has a bunch of).

Your child will also get to decorate a paper for the front of their binder. This is open ended and totally up to you and your child. Some options are stickers, drawings, photographs, or some combination. Your child can decorate the binder page whichever night you choose.